My Beautiful, Beautiful Lin
by Kitty.M.Smith
Summary: Lin is taking a break at a recreational home her mother made when she was young a week after Korra decides to keep the portals to the spirit world open. Upon observing a tire swing, a memory surfaces that reminds her of the great woman she called Momma...Oneshot


Lin breathed in the incents and looked at the picture of her mother. She smiled, softly, like she wasn't sure if she should-if it was appropriate. Her hair was down, something that only happened on special occasions. Lin breathed in again and sighed, feeling the vibrations in the earth like they were apart of her-and of her mother.

"Oh Momma," she mumbled sadly. "I miss you."

She could barely remember that little hinted smile, and then the wild grin when she got some crazy idea that might get the both of them killed. Lin got the smile that her mother wore and chuckled lightly, thinking of one instance in which her mother insisted that she accompany her when she attempted to tell an optometrist she needed glasses. Even though she was reluctant, Lin was glad she'd attended. It'd been amusing. Exhaling deeply, Lin pushed the memories from her mind and tightened the sash around her robe. She knew if she kept thinking about her, she'd just sadden herself more.

She stood, curling her toes around the loose earth around her mother's grave and exhaling through her nose, letting out a low rumbling noise. She turned and looked around. Spirits flew in the sky, slithered on the ground, hopped about and generally did whatever they pleased. She even saw a few people wandering around that glowed a semi-translucent blue-usually. Some took on a fully animated form. She walked down the grassy hill, doing her best not to disturb any of them. She didn't want to piss of a spirit; she'd always been wary, and getting used to them crawling all over the place had been quite the trial in the past week or so. It was still rather...annoying, sometimes. She always felt like she was being watched.

Though, looking at some simple, harmless spirits frolicking in the dandelions, she didn't mind too much.

She entered her rural retreat-something her mother herself had built for them long ago when she thought Lin was getting too stressed and fussy. It was perfectly placed so it was easily accessible by anyone in Republic City (it was only ten minutes-at most-away by motorboat) yet private enough "no one'll know if you wanna run around nude." As her mother had said. Lin had proven her statement correct.

She sat in a stone chair in front of the building and flipped back her head, sunbathing. She bended a nice coating of dust over her and stretched, listening to her aging joints pop. Turning her head to allow one side to get some more sun, she observed an old oak tree. The tire swing still creaked in the breeze...

_"Momma, you're going to hurt yourself!" Lin scolded from the ground, looking at her mother, whom sat on one of the thick branches with her legs wrapped around for support. _

_"Don't worry, Fusspot." Toph said confidently, falling forward on the branch, making the leaves shake and Lin run forward. Once she realized her mother was still stably on the tree, she put her hands on her hips. _

_"I could just do this for you, you know. I have two eyes-and they can see!"_

_Toph ignored her, bringing forth a thick rope she'd brought up there. _

_"You don't even like being off the ground, so I really don't see why you insisted on doing this in the first place." Lin shook her head, making a sassy flicking motion with her hand as her bobbed hair bounced. Toph rolled her eyes like she could see her. "Because I have a bet to fulfill."_

_"Yes, a bet is totally worth breaking your neck, Momma."_

_"God, thirteen and suddenly you know everything. Why don't you just hush so Momma can concentrate, hm?" Then Toph began to attempt to tie a knot. Lin watched with her head tilted slightly, her eyes half open and her mouth bunched on one side. _

_"Mhm. Whatever. Why do you want to put a tire swing here anyway? You hate swinging on stuff."_

_"Yeah, but your cousins don't, and I know you don't Fusspot."_

_"Yeah, I do!"_

_"Uncle Sokka says differently when he takes you to the park."_

_Her eyes widened. "THAT SNITCH!" She stamped her foot, making the ground roll and nearly causing Toph to fall off. "Momma!"_

_"Fusspot, Fusspot." She mumbled finally succeeding in making a knot. She then shimmied backward, nearly falling several times until she landed on the earth, which she hugged. _

_"I love you Earth, you're a lovely little thing, you dirt you."_

_"Momma." Lin sighed as her mother grinned and stood. "You need to date more."_

_Toph blew a raspberry while rolling a tire over to the swing. Before she could start work, Lin shoved her aside and tied it all up. She then smacked it, watching it swing forward, and then swing back and knock Toph down. _

_"Lin!"_

_Lin grinned crookedly. "It works!"_

_Toph turned her head in Lin's direction and smacked her foot on the ground, sending a column of rock up that launched Lin straight to her. She cached her and then began to tickle her mercilessly, making her squeal and squirm. _

_"You love me?"_

_"LEMME GO!"_

_"You love meeeee?"_

_"LEMME. GO. MOMMA."_

_"You love meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee?"_

_"...I love you."_

_She stopped tickling her, laughing as Lin rolled away and jumped to her feet. "Love you too, Fusspot."_

_Lin mumbled something while fixing her hair a bit. After a few moments she laid down beside her mother, cuddling up, looking at the tree; with the sunlight filtering through its leaves that swayed slightly in a faint wind, listening to the creaking sound the rope made as the tire moved so slightly you could barely see it. The knot at the top was surprisingly good, considering it had been Toph to do it. It would hold a lot of weight. _

_"How does it look?" Toph asked quietly, finger combing Lin's hair. Lin looked it over and smiled, allowing her mother to trace her lips lightly with her finger. "Awesome."_

_Toph nodded a bit, resting her hand on Lin's head, moving her foot around in circles on the ground. She hummed lowly, a tune she'd hummed since Lin was a baby._

_"Momma?"_

_"Yes, Linnie?"_

_"What's the words to the song?" _

_"There aren't any, Lin." Toph chuckled. _

_Lin propped herself up on her elbow. "What do you mean?"_

_"It's a song spirits sing, Lin. Aung said he learned it on one of his trips into the Spirit World." She smiled. "It's good for calming fussy babies."_

_"Was I a fussy baby?"_

_"Why do you think I came up with Fusspot, Fusspot." She joked, snorting. Lin blinked and then chuckled a bit. "Well I'm not a fussy baby anymore, Momma."_

_"No, no," she grinned slyly, "just a fussy teenager."_

_"I am not!" She whacked Toph's arm, making her laugh. _

_"Oh c'mere, Fusspot." She grabbed Lin and rolled over, ruffling her hair. Lin lived up to her nickname with her fussing until finally she gave in and started laughing, Toph joining in, who hugged Lin. Then they just sat there, laughing until their sides were sore, for no reason, really, only stopping when they could no longer breath and then relaxing on the ground, smiling. Lin looked over at the tire swing while Toph again finger combed her hair, thinking how she wished her mother could see it the same way she did..._

Lin sighed, closing her eyes as the memory faded. She really wished her mother could have seen it back then...it hadn't been covered in mold, or torn or worn from use. The rope hadn't creaked so much and smelled fresh...now it looked like it'd been through a war almost...

She slowly sat up, and that's when she heard it. Faint, low, but getting closer. It was the song-the spirit song her mother always used to hum. Within seconds it was like she was hearing it from her mother herself. But...no, it couldn't be-the spirits were out but she couldn't even find her mother, how would she find h-

"Hey there, Fusspot." Said a voice that Lin recognized immediately. She whirled her head around to see the figure of her mother in the uniform she'd died in, with the same white strips of hair in her bun and the laugh lines on her face. Only, her eyes...they...

She could see.

Lin tried to stand up, but faltered and fell back in her seat, still staring at Toph, who was only a few feet away. Her legs shook, her arms felt like jelly. Her mother, her mother! As she stepped forward, her uniform seemed to fade and was replaced with casual Earth-bender styled clothing. She'd never thought she'd see her again, and there she was right before her. At the chair, Toph knelt down and put her hands on Lin's cheeks. Lin stared at her eyes. They were beautiful cerulean blue. That could see. Her mother was seeing her right now...she knew what she looked like-she knew what she looked like!

"Lin," Toph said in quivering voice, tears coming to her eyes the same time they did Lin's, who gripped her mother's shoulders.

"M-Mom-" she gulped, "Momma! Y-You-It's you-y-you can s-"

"See," Toph said, nodding. "I can see." Her mouth formed the widest, proudest smile a mother could as she traced Lin's scar, then her eyebrows, and just under her lips before playing with the stunned woman's hair. "I c-can see my beautiful, beautiful daughter."

Lin made a sort of choking sound like she was trying to hold back tears, though they still poured down her face. Her mother had always said she was beautiful, every day, but Lin could never believe her because she never saw her...

"M-Momma," she fell to her kneels and hugged her tightly as she could, getting the same back, and let the tears flow. "Momma, Momma, Momma."

Toph breathed deeply, finger combing Lin's hair. "My beautiful, beautiful Lin."

* * *

I wrote most of this around 1 in the morning. It was inspired by a tumblr post and that goes to them. Otherwise, I had issues with the ending and please don't flame this. I hope you all enjoyed this. :3

Avatar belongs to Nick.


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